Colleen Ballinger has posted a response to social media allegations alleging the YouTube star acted inappropriately with her young fanbase.
Ballinger, 36, has been accused of traumatizing a participant of her “Miranda Sings” live shows after a concert stunt went wrong and sharing personal information with young fans via direct messages.
She has remained notably quiet since the former situation began making headlines earlier this month. Ballinger hasn’t posted any videos to her two YouTube channels, nor has she been active on Instagram.
The vlogger and host posted a YouTube video simply titled “hi” where she revealed her side of the story while singing an original song.
Inside Ballinger’s New Apology Video
In the 10-minute video, Ballinger addresses the controversies in a song. The ‘Miranda Sings’ star revealed her team strongly advised her not to talk, but she revealed she realized singing her story would be different.
A visibly nervous Ballinger opens the video, singing, “Hey, it’s been a while since you’ve seen my face. I wasn’t very good, so I took a little break. So a lot of people are saying things about me that aren’t quite true, no matter if it’s true. As long as it’s entertaining too, right? Are you guys having fun?
She then launches the song, presumably titled “Toxic Gossip Train”.
The lyrics read, “All aboard the toxic gossip train/chuggin’ on the misinformation tracks/the toxic gossip train/you got a one-way ticket to the manipulation station/the toxic gossip train/tie me to the rails and harass me for my past/These rumors sound like facts if you don’t mind the loopholes/I won’t survive the crash, but hey/At least you’re having fun.
Ballinger gives his take on the controversies
At 1:12, Ballinger begins to explain his point.
“Hi everyone. I wanted to come online and talk to you about a few things,” she said, continuing to strum her ukulele. I wanted to say. I recently realized they never said I couldn’t sing,” Ballinger continued. “Here I am, and today I just want to talk about the facts. So, I hope you’ll be ready to listen.
“Many years ago I used to message my fans,” she continued. “Uh, but not in a scary way, like a lot of you try to suggest. It was more a way of losing. I was just trying to be ‘best friend’ to everyone. is kind of like when you go to a family reunion, you know, and there’s a weird aunt there who keeps walking up to you and saying, “Hey girl, that’s what the tea?” and you’re like, ehhh. That was me,” Ballinger clarified. “But in group chats with my fans. It was weird. I’ve been sharing my life online for over 15 years, i gave you all my heart and because of that i feel like i talk to my friends but at the beginning of my career i didn’t really understand that maybe there should be limits “, she continued singing.
“There were times in the DMs where I shared details of my life, which was really weird of me. I haven’t done this in years, you see, because I changed my behavior and took responsibility. But that’s not very interesting, is it? she asks, squinting at the camera, before launching into another chorus.
“Seriously, I think it’s really important to hold people accountable for mistakes. We should hope that everyone can learn from their mistakes and grow, change their behavior and become a better person. And that’s something I always tried to do when I make mistakes, and something that I will continue to do — what? do you care? Oh, okay,” Ballinger continued.
“I thought you wanted me to take responsibility, but that’s not the point of your mob mentality, is it?” she sings. “Your goal is to ruin the life of the person you despise while you dramatize your lies and monetize their demise. I feel like I’m hearing the comments on this video already,” she continues. “She’s gaslighting , manipulative, ugh she’s a narcissist and a rat, I would never make a mistake like that…”
“I also want to take a minute to talk about this girl, ‘Miranda Sings.’ You know that one,” Ballinger continued. “She’s PG-13. It says on my website and it’s always been that way, and that’s why you won’t find my videos on the YouTube Kids app. I didn’t know it was my responsibility to decide what was right to see for each child,” she sings. “I’ve always relied on parents to decide if they were in comfortable with their family watching my YouTube videos or watching my live shows…”
You can find the full video via Ballinger’s channel here.